Branded-skipper
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Hesperia leonardus pawnee
Pawnee Skipper
Hesperia leonardus pawnee, the Pawnee Skipper, is a subspecies of skipper butterfly in the family Hesperiidae. It is found in the Great Plains region of North America, with distribution records from the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan, as well as the U.S. state of Vermont. As a member of the genus Hesperia, it belongs to a group commonly known as the "branded skippers." The subspecies was described by Dodge in 1874, originally as Hesperia pawnee before being reclassified as a subspecies of H. leonardus. iNaturalist records indicate this taxon has been observed 177 times, suggesting it is encountered with moderate frequency by naturalists.